


The Smart Thing To Do

by ItsaVikingThing



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, First Meetings, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 13:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Adora has begun training to become a Horde warrior and is keen to become a good one. But when Shadow Weaver brings a new recruit into their barracks, a girl with a tail, claws, and a temper, Adora starts to wonder what it would be like to have a friend, rather than squadmates.Adora's pretty sure that the smart thing to do is to stay away from Catra, who isn't popular with the other recruits. But Adora starts to think that maybe the smart thing isn't always the right thing...





	The Smart Thing To Do

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if this lines up at all well with canon, but I wanted to do a story about how they became friends in the first place.

The day the new recruit is brought to their barracks, Adora finds herself confronted with a choice. Adora knows what the _smart_ move is. The smart move is to distance herself from the girl with the tail and one yellow and one blue eye. From the second Shadow Weaver drags her--squirming, tail twitching, clawing wildly at the air--into the barracks, Adora can feel the attention of her fellow trainees fall on the girl like a series of blows.

They come to attention for Shadow Weaver, or at least, their best efforts at standing at attention. Their training has only really begun, though. None of them look like the crisp, perfectly aligned Horde soldiers who guard the Fright Zone from the terrible powers of the princesses who hold this world in their tyrannical grasp.

Shadow Weaver shakes the new girl by the scruff of her neck and tosses her towards the rest of the recruits. The girl twists lithely, landing in a crouch with her hands on the hard stone floor. Her tail lashes, then goes still. Rather than rise, she sinks down, muscles coiling. Her eyes narrow, flickering left and right, counting, weighing the others in the room.

Adora can tell that this girl is a fighter. That’s obvious. But she notices other things, too. She notices that the girl's uniform jacket is sleeveless and that she has stripey patterns on the skin of her arms. In all the years of her life, Adora has never seen anything like it. Adora thinks that those stripes are really interesting, and pretty, and she sort of wishes that _she_ had interesting patterns on her skin.

The girl’s eyes are so...big and colourful and strange and beautiful. Even when she’s angry and afraid and glaring at everyone and everything she can see.

And the girl has claws! There are so many advantages to having claws! No itch could stand a chance against claws like that!

Adora has heard the word 'friend' a few times. But although she's always surrounded by other recruits, she's never really felt the need for a friend. Not when she has squadmates. Not when everyone is...not the _same_ , exactly, but similar. They all want the same things, after all, and they all get taught the same things. But this girl...Adora's eyes briefly meet the strange eyes of the new girl, and Adora wonders what it might be like to have a friend.

Shadow Weaver surveys their uneven ranks and scoffs. "Pathetic. You shame the Horde with this slovenly display. You will do better the next time I visit this barracks."

Adora tries to stand straighter and breathe more quietly.

Shadow Weaver grunts. She gestures at the new girl. "This one will be joining you. She's going to be one of you now. Do make her feel...welcome."

Without another word, she turns and glides away.

Adora swallows. She knows what Shadow Weaver means by 'welcome' and it isn't going to be pretty. Beside her, someone's knuckles pop when they bunch their hand into a fist.

The girl stares back at them all, her expression sullen but her eyes sharp. Adora wonders what she sees when she looks at the other recruits. Adora knows that _they_ see a target: someone to take their frustrations out on, someone to bully into doing their chores, someone _different_. Someone they can _hurt_.

Adora just stares at the girl, admiring her big, bright eyes and her wild, unruly hair, and...the girl looks at her. Her gaze lingers where it only flitted over the others. Adora tries to smile.

The girl looks away. "Let's just get this over with," she rasps. Her tail lashes back and forth, her muscles bunch, her claws flex.

The other recruits begin to spread out, moving slowly towards their target. Adora takes a deep breath. She knows what the smart thing to do is. 

She chooses to do something else. 

Adora takes a few quick, springing steps towards the girl, holding out her hand. In a bright, loud voice, she says, "Hi! I'm Adora! Welcome to Recruit Barracks J-Niner-Twelve."

There's a pause. The other recruits hesitate. The girl, coiled and ready to spring, blinks up at Adora's hand, her jaw hanging open. "Uh...uh...I'm...Catra?"

Catra quickly looks around to make sure no one is trying to sneak up on her, then she grabs Adora's hand. She tenses, waiting for a trap, and Adora can feel Catra's claws resting against her skin, can feel the tension dammed in the muscles those claws are anchored in. She imagines how easily they could slide through even the calluses she's gained from combat training and very, very carefully gives Catra's hand the gentlest squeeze possible before letting go and stepping back. Adora keeps her hands raised and out to her sides, and she keeps the smile on her face.

To the other recruits she says, "There! We've welcomed her!"

There's a pause. The air has thickened with the surge of adrenaline in bodies preparing for imminent violence, but instead of violence, Adora has given them something to think about. It's one of the lessons she's reverse engineered from her training: thinking is the enemy of action. In a fight, it's the one who acts the most decisively who usually wins. Which Adora has decided must mean that if you want to _stop_ people fighting, you should try to make them think so they don't rush into action. At least...she _thinks_ that's how it should work.

For a moment, at least, the other trainees hesitate, exchanging puzzled looks.

Adora winks at Catra and says, "I'm gonna show Catra around. You guys can...do...anything eeeelllse? Yeah. Okay, great, bye!"

Adora tries to hustle away, but she hesitates before she grabs Catra's shoulder and Catra doesn't help her out. She doesn't look confused, exactly, more...wary. And annoyed.

Shooting her a pleading look, Adora gestures at the door. Catra stares at her unblinking for a long, long second, then she rises slowly from her crouch and starts backing away. "Yeah. Okay. We'll...go look around."

Catra doesn't turn her back on the others until they're out of the barracks. She doesn't turn her back on Adora at all, nor does she relax once they're out of sight of the others. If anything, she looks more dangerous, her eyes narrowed, the tip of her tail twitching back and forth. "So...now what? You think you can take me by yourself?"

Adora quickly shakes her head. "I don't want to fight you! I don't want anyone to hurt you!"

"Why not?" she snaps, shoulders hunching.

Adora gapes at her. "Because...then you'd be hurt? And...being hurt sucks?"

Catra stares at her for what feels like several hours. Eventually she says, "You're stupid."

"Am not!" Adora feels her cheeks heat up. "I got you out of there, didn't I?"

"You shouldn't have. They wouldn't have done much worse than break my bones. And I'd've done _much_ worse than that. It'd be over by now, and you'd all be scared of me. Then no one would bother me ever again.”

"I...don't know if they’d leave you alone," Adora says slowly. "Not if they thought it was all of them against you. That it was _always_ going to be all of them against you. And not if they hurt you bad enough...then I don’t think they’d be scared at all."

Catra scoffs. "There's no one in this place that can hurt me more than I can handle. Not even Shadow Weaver! A fight'll happen sooner or later, though. When it does, you'd better join in or _you’ll_ be the one they make suffer."

And with that, she turns on her heel and goes back into the barracks.

Adora quickly follows, feeling confused and frightened. But no one starts anything with Catra. The violent mood from before has already passed. Still, when Adora looks around she sees resentment on some of the other faces. It only gets worse when Catra hops up onto a top bunk in an impressive standing jump and settles on the bed, staring around at everyone and declaring, "This is my bed now."

No one argues, but it's pretty clear no one is happy about their new squadmate.

Kyle and Reese had shared that bunk. They both move their stuff, glaring at Catra when they do.

After a minute's hesitation, Adora takes her things and transfers them to the bunk below Catra's.

While she's arranging her blanket and pillow, Catra drops down onto the floor beside her. "What are you doing?"

Adora shakes her head. "Making my bed."

Catra stares at her, the tip of her tail twitching. "...fine. But I'll know if you try something. I'll _hurt_ you if you try _anything_."

Adora huffs in irritation and glares back at her. "And if _they_ try something, then I'll know, and I _won't_ let them hurt you."

Catra's eyes widen slightly, Adora thinks, but she turns her head so quickly, it's hard to say. "Whatever. Bet you can barely hear anything with those ears.”

Adora shrugs. “I’m a light sleeper.”

She is. Sleep has always come slowly and brings too many nightmares with it for Adora to sink too deeply into it.

Catra stares at her, the tip of her tail weaving back and forth. At length she snorts, and leaps back up onto the bed above.

Adora doesn't get any sleep that night. She waits up, listening for something other than snoring and recruits going to the toilet. Nothing happens that night, though, and after a while Adora's mind drifts as she tries to work out if she's made a friend or if she’s made a mistake.

* * *

For a while, nothing much happens, except all the normal things. Early each morning they rise, go for a run, then hit the showers. Then it’s breakfast, combat training, lunch, marching and formation drills, afternoon exercise, evening tactics sessions, dinner, and review and revision time.

Adora spends as much time as she can trying to figure out Catra. Catra doesn't try to get to know anyone in their unit, Adora included. She excels in the physical parts of their training, and if she's quiet in their classes, Adora knows it's not because she's dumb. Catra's more vocal in the barracks, but usually only to avenge a look or a muttered insult with a searing, sneering rebuke.

Nothing about the way she acts makes Adora think that Catra is looking for a friend. The smart thing to do would be to give up. It would be smart to move to another bunk, even, put more distance between herself and Catra, because Catra’s prediction about a fight looks like it’s going to come true, if only because Catra seems to want it so badly.

But Adora doesn’t move away. She doesn’t stay up late every night, but she does sleep more lightly. She seems to be aware, even in her dreams, of every move that Catra makes above her, and she’s even more aware whenever anyone moves near their bunk in the small, silent hours of darkness.

Nothing much happens, though. Not when Adora's around Catra, and she tries to be around her as often as she can. It's not that she's particularly popular, though she isn't exactly disliked. It's not even that she's the best fighter in the group, although she's getting pretty good. It's more that, for whatever reason, Shadow Weaver seems even more cruel when she punishes someone if they've recently annoyed Adora. It's not like Shadow Weaver could _know_ , of course, and it's not like Shadow Weaver punishes anyone _because_ of Adora…that would be beyond weird.

It’s just...anyone who messes with Adora usually finds themselves on Shadow Weaver’s bad side not long after. Well, given that Shadow Weaver is pretty much _all_ bad side, maybe that should be _worse_ side, but the point is the other recruits don't mess with Adora anymore.

Nothing _much_ happens, but one time Adora leaves the barracks to go for breakfast, realises that she's forgotten her belt, and doubles back.

She finds Catra, alone, rubbing the side of her face against the frame of their bunk.

“Are...you okay?” Adora blurts at the sight.

Catra spins to face her, dropping into a crouch, claws out and teeth bared. “Yeah. Do _you_ still want to be, a minute from now?”

Her tail's lashing, but...there's a hint of red to her cheeks.

Adora bites her lip. “I...forgot my belt.”

Catra stares at her for a second. Her tail stills. “Whatever.” But just as Adora is about to walk to her bunk, Catra reaches down under it and pulls out Adora's belt. She coils it up and tosses it to her. “Here.”

Adora catches her belt. She doesn't ask how Catra knew where it was; there aren't many things that stay secret for long in a barracks, and Catra is always watching everyone. Adora knows that the smart thing to do is to not ask anything at all, to just walk away. “Hey...wanna walk to the mess hall together?”

Catra blinks. She studies Adora warily, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth. “...are you leading me into an ambush?”

“Huh?" Adora chuckles. "Oh, uh...only if it involves food jumping into your belly?”

Catra blinks. Her tail doesn't stop moving, but she doesn't _look_ angry. “...no. No, I don't want to walk with you.”

It hurts, more than Adora thought that words could. She can't figure out _why_ it hurts so much, but it does. “O-okay,” Adora says, trying to hold onto her smile. “See you later.”

Adora turns away, but Catra suddenly blurts. “Walk ahead of me!”

She approaches Adora warily, the tip of her tail still weaving slowly back and forth. “Walk ahead of me. That way I'll know it's not a trap. Not that I _care_ , I can handle the idiots in this barracks, but…”

Adora grins. “I'll go first, then! And we can sit at the same table? Maybe? If you want?”

“...maybe,” Catra mutters. “If it's not a trap. I guess.”

Catra doesn't sit with her that day, even though it isn't a trap, preferring a spot in the corner where she can watch everyone else. But when Adora leaves, she looks over her shoulder and finds Catra following her, and Adora smiles, because that's _something_.

But really, nothing much happens. Catra annoys a lot of people, but she keeps a wary distance from everyone, Adora included. Adora stays as close as she can to Catra, though, and she lets everyone know, quietly, that she’ll be upset if they hurt Catra, and their fear of Shadow Weaver seems to keep them at bay. No one tries anything, not for weeks, even though Adora is sure that some of them really want to.

Nothing much happens, though. Until everything happens all at once.

* * *

It’s a training exercise, of course, one that sees the trainees split into two teams and pitted against each other. Adora ends up on one team, Catra on the other. Adora keeps an eye out for Catra after the exercise gets underway in one of the gray, modular training rooms. But she doesn’t see Catra, not until it’s too late.

The point of the exercise is simple: hunt down and eliminate the opposing team. To simulate one of the possible terrains they’ll have to fight in for real, the training space has various metallic trunks and beams to represent a forest environment. Adora knows that Catra can leap onto the top bunk from a standing start, but she _still_ doesn’t anticipate the attack from above.

One moment, she’s at the head of a group of three of her teammates, warily studying the terrain around her, the next there’s a hiss and Catra drops down on her from above, all teeth and claws, eyes shining in the low light of the fake forest. She hits Adora feet first in the chest before Adora can bring her staff into a defensive position. Catra’s arms blur as she strikes at Adora’s head, and...Adora’s protective vest and helmet both chime. She’s been eliminated.

Catra leaps off of her, and all Adora can do is lie there and watch as Catra tears through both of her teammates, eliminating them both before they’ve got their guards up. Adora’s a little surprised at how quickly they go down, but more that they don’t grumble about it, even as Catra chuckles and swaggers around the three of them, pausing above Adora’s head.

“See? I don’t _need_ your protection,” Catra sneers. “You can’t even protect yourself.”

Adora rolls her eyes. “I’ll know better next time. That’s the point of training, Catra! To learn? But...that was pretty neat, the way you took us all out!”

Catra’s expression shifts. She peers at Adora intently, the tip of her tail flicking through the air. Her lips twitch into something like a smile. “...you looked kinda funny, when you saw me dropping on you. So shocked.”

Adora considers that information. “I’ll bet I looked like a complete goof.” She sticks her tongue out at Catra, then laughs softly.

Catra snorts, and lets out a soft chuckle. “Heh. Yeah...see you around Adora.”

Adora blinks, and looks around, realising that some of Catra’s team have emerged from the fake treeline. Catra nods to them, then turns and begins to lope towards a metal beam, ready to climb and reclaim the high ground. She hesitates, though, flicking one last glance at Adora.

So she doesn’t see it coming when one of Adora’s fallen squadmates, Meela, slides her staff up off the ground and sweeps it into Catra’s shins.

Adora cries out, but Catra doesn’t, even as she trips. She rolls away from Meela, eyes wide as she comes up into a crouch. Adora’s other squadmate springs up and gets behind Catra. Catra’s three teammates close in on her, forming a circle around her.

Adora isn’t sure why they don’t just attack, until Reese jogs into the clearing a few seconds later, grinning when he sees that Catra is surrounded. “Hey, Catra. I wanted to talk to you about my bunk…” He pauses when he nears Adora, staring down at where she’s still lying on the floor, too stunned to do anything else. “If you’re not going to join us, you’d better stay out of this. Understand?”

Adora slowly nods. She understands perfectly that six of her fellow trainees are about to attack a seventh. She understands the mathematics of the situation, and she understands that all she needs to do to be safe is to do the smart thing.

The smart thing is to do nothing at all.

She can feel Catra’s eyes on her, so she turns her head and meets the other girl’s gaze. Catra’s mouth is a tight, hard line. She nods at Adora, but addresses the whole circle when she says, “It was always going to go like this. So, is it just the seven of you? Or are we waiting for somebody else?”

Reese chuckles as he walks slowly towards Catra. “No. No, I think there are enough of us. This should have happened a while ago, you know that?”

“Yeah,” Catra mutters. “I do.”

She crouches, ready to spring.

The circle begins to tighten, six boys and girls with staffs closing in on one unarmed girl. On Catra.

Adora climbs to her feet silently. She picks up her staff, and that’s not quite a soundless process, but the others are so focused on Catra, they’re not paying much attention to her.

Maybe the smart thing is to do nothing. Maybe the smartest thing is to walk away, to find an instructor who won’t _stop_ the fight, but will at least intervene to make sure that Catra isn’t so badly hurt she can’t keep training. Even Reese would appreciate it if she did that, eventually.

Adora rolls her neck and grips her staff with both hands.

If nothing else, all the pain that follows is worth it for the look on Catra’s face when Adora brings her staff down as hard as she can on Reese’s helmeted head. For a fraction of a second, Catra stares at her along with everyone else, completely stunned. Then Catra grins, a fierce, huge grin that lights up her eyes and her whole face and Adora knows that she’s maybe made a mistake, but she’s _definitely_ made a friend. Any number of mistakes are worth the warm feeling that Catra’s grin puts in her chest.

After that, Catra leaps and takes down Meela, and Adora punches the boy next to her in the face because he’s too close for staff work, and then it’s chaos for a minute that feels like it lasts an hour. The instructors put a stop to the fight before anyone is _too_ badly hurt, though Reese ends up with a concussion and Meela has a number of nasty cuts from Catra’s claws. Adora and Catra have their share of bruises, too, but at the end of it all they’re standing shoulder to shoulder, grinning at each other, and none of the other recruits can look them in the eye.

They all get punished, of course, for deviating from the training exercise, but to Adora latrine cleaning is nothing compared to the reward of Catra’s grin.

* * *

Later that night, Adora is woken by a claw poking her in the side. She blinks up at Catra, who raises a finger to her lips and jerks her head at the barracks door. Catra slips out quietly. Adora gets up and follows her. Catra leads her through the corridors of their world in silence, until she finds a particular door which Adora thinks _should_ be locked, but opens at Catra’s touch. Adora follows her through, out onto a balcony, out into the air.

For a moment, Adora just soaks in the view of the Fright Zone and lets the cool night soothe her bruises. Then she looks at Catra with a smile. “Hey.”

Catra frowns at her. "You're not scared of me, are you?"

Adora shakes her head. She knows that word has gotten round about Meela’s wounds, about the blood on Catra’s claws after the fight. She knows that a lot of the others in the barracks _are_ scared of Catra, but Adora isn’t.

"No. I'm..." She can taste the word 'scared' on the blade of her tongue, but she looks at Catra, who has a wondering expression on her face, and Adora swallows the words 'scared _for_ you' unformed. "I'm your friend," she says instead, smiling at the other girl.

Catra considers that information. "Okay," she says gravely. Then she grins. Her muscles tense, then release, and suddenly Adora is on her back with the other girl squatting on her chest.

Adora struggles to unpin herself. "H-hey! Why'd you jump me?"

Catra blinks, but her grin quickly broadens. "Friends pounce on friends. I thought everyone knew that."

"Oh. Right." Adora had never considered that being friends might be like fighting. "Uh, so...can you get off me now, or...?"

"Yep," Catra says smugly. "Don't feel like it, though."

Which is when Adora decides that being friends is a _lot_ like fighting. That's good. That means that Adora's going to be a _good_ friend. She lets Catra see her smirk, but that’s all the warning she gives before she clamps one hand above Catra’s left elbow. Adora yanks, and Catra yelps, eyes widening in surprise. 

Catra tries to recover her balance by throwing her weight in the opposite direction of Adora’s pull. Which is sort of what Adora was hoping for. She digs in with her heels, heaves and twists with her hips and rolls Catra off of her. As soon as she’s got her other hand free, she grabs Catra’s wrist. Adora rolls onto her side and gathers her legs under her, pulling on Catra’s wrist and pushing down on her elbow as she does. Grinning, Adora says, “So...was that okay?”

Catra struggles, trying to get her arm free. Adora isn’t sure what to do, because she doesn’t have a great position to properly lock Catra’s arm out. And...this isn’t _really_ a fight, so how hard should she be trying?

Before she can figure out the answer, Catra suddenly relaxes. She cranes her head back, fixing her yellow eye on Adora. She grins. “Heh. Yeah, not bad! Okay…” Catra’s voice softens. The tip of her tail twitches in the edge of Adora’s vision, but she doesn’t seem mad at all. “We...we can try being friends. I guess. For a while.”

“Okay!” Adora grins at Catra. She doesn’t think she’s ever smiled this widely before; her cheeks kinda hurt, but she doesn’t want to stop, so she just keeps grinning. “We’re friends, then! Best friends!”

“Uh…huh.” Catra raises an eyebrow. “You can let go of my arm now?”

“Okay!” 

Adora lets go of Catra’s arm and bounces to her feet, still grinning. She offers her hand to Catra, who ignores it, rising easily and stretching her arms languorously. “So…”

“Yeah?” Adora asks eagerly, hoping to find out what else friends do together.

“Uh…” Catra blinks, scratching behind her ear with her claws. “Wanna do...something?”

“Sure!”

“Uh...what do you wanna do?”

Adora blinks. “Friend...stuff?”

Catra shuffles around, breaking eye contact. “Right. Right…friend stuff. Which I know all about!”

“Yeah! So, uh…”

“I mean, though...friends take turns doing friend stuff. And I did the pouncing, so…”

“Oh!” That seems completely logical, if a little dismaying that Adora has to take full responsibility for their friendship right this second. “Well, we...we could…” Adora wraps an arm around her middle, cupping her elbow. “...go for a walk tomorrow?”

She winces, because that’s probably the worst friend thing that any friend has ever suggested to another friend in the history of friendship. Adora suddenly wonders if there _is_ a history of friendship out there somewhere. Maybe she could read it, and take notes before she tries to be friendly again?

Catra purses her lips. “Okay…? Sure, we can go for a walk.”

“Oh. Yeah! Good!” Adora fist pumps behind Catra’s back, because against the odds, she got a friend thing _right_. “Let’s walk, friend!”

Catra rolls her eyes. “I can already tell I’m going to hate you.”

“Nah!” Adora bumps her shoulder. “You like me!”

Catra glares at her, but...her lips quirk up and her eyes are softer than Adora’s ever seen them. “Don’t count on it. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Adora would grin at that, but she hasn’t stopped grinning from earlier, so it’s sort of all the same grin. “Yeah, you like me. We’re gonna stay friends forever. I can tell!”

Catra looks away. “You _are_ stupid,” she mutters.

“Am not. I made friends with you, didn’t I?”

Catra whips her head round to look at her. She hesitates, then slowly grins. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. That _was_ pretty smart! I’m going to be a Force Captain, Adora. Wait and see. Maybe you could be in my squad!”

“Uh, I’m going to be a Force Captain, too. The youngest ever! But I’ll always have a place for you in mine.”

Catra scoffs. “Ha! It’s a race, then!”

“A friendly race! Friends, uh, race, right?”

“Sure. I guess…”

Adora nudges Catra with her elbow. “So...race you back to our bunk?”

Catra purses her lips, considering. Then she grins and takes off running without another word.

“Hey!” Adora protests, but she’s still grinning as she chases after Catra.

Adora doesn’t win the race, but when she settles back into her bed, she feels like she’s won something much better. Maybe the best thing of all. “Good night, friend,” she whispers to the girl in the top bunk.

Adora sleeps easily that night, and every night after, when she knows that Catra is near.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, folks! 
> 
> Please do let me know your thoughts, critical or otherwise!


End file.
